They had an ideology and visions for the future of America -- which I profoundly disagreed with, but still. At some point during Bill Clinton's presidency or so, the Republican Party degenerated into a straight-up criminal organization. They are now nothing but a bunch of thieves and thugs, with no other goals other than grabbing as much power and loot as possible and destroying their enemies.

Rhodes Scholar, Harvard Law graduate, and an all-around nice guy.

And the Republicans despise Democrats for not joining them in shouting "FREEDOM" as they try to burn the country down on all of our heads.

That's not so hard to figure out.

That is not respecting the process, which Democrats do, as Obama does, to honor all the hundreds of millions in the USA. This is an area of belief that is exploited by both the extreme right and left to discourage Democratic voters. Allen has seen this happening up close. Taverner wrote an OP that is similar to this:

We are at war. You can pretend we can be one country again, but we can't.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002879486

No wonder things are the way they are now. That was very discouraging to read. I find myself hating the Republican Party more and more and everything it stands for. I used to consider myself pretty much a centrist but no longer. I guess now it begs me to question how to fix, stop this? I come here to educate myself about the issues but sometimes feel so helpless to affect any change. I have no money to donate to any cause just barely making it, I can volunteer some of my time and do write lots of letters, any suggestions will be welcomed from people here. I so want to leave my grandchildren with a brighter future than I see on the horizon.

He told his party go work three days and then go home to your constituents. In prior times, there would be the Washington parties and such where members of both parties would socialize. Under Newt's plan, this stopped.

Then --- comes the people who want to be in Congress but don't want to do the job of a representative or senator. They will only act in ways that they believe will lead to reelection.

One way works and the other way is a bust. To Tom Allen the middle ground would be a smaller bust, I guess. What would Tom Allen do about Sandy? Estimates are that it will take $60 billion to repair so Tom Allen would say let's do $30 billion -- a smaller bust. Or, take Social Security. People retiring paid all of their adult live into the plan with a promise of a certain level of benefit. Tom Allen would cut that benefit in half so younger Americans could put half of their money into private accounts.

Let's branch out to events that extend beyond our borders, like global warming and what to do about that. Bush abandon the Kyoto Accords so countries around the globe continue to pour CO2 into the atmosphere with clear evidence of more destructive weather patterns, with those patterns changing ever more rapidly. Sea level changes are already 20 years ahead of schedule because the ice in Greenland is melting even more rapidly than forecast. Where is the middle ground -- indeed does a middle ground exits. What would it be based upon -- voluntary compliance on emissions? Give me a break. We are not talking about different world views; we are talking about right and wrong -- good and evil.

I understand what Tom Allen is saying. I just don't see where it makes any sense when practicing what he preaches would leave us muddling along at best. On some of this we have a mountain of data that points to a single conclusion so it is time to accept the truth for what it is. Truth cannot have a middle ground just as rational and irrational cannot have a middle ground. While there can be differences in how to arrive at the common goal what we are seeing today is lack of agreement on the common goal with one side not accepting facts as being facts. Surrender under those circumstances is not an option.